Lacing Tree Ornaments for Toddlers and Preschoolers to Make

Lacing Tree Ornaments: an easy Christmas craft for toddlers and preschoolers, and a fine-motor activity too!

I know today’s Christmas craft is quite similar to Tuesday’s wool-wrapped ornaments, but hey, we love a tree ornament that looks like a Christmas tree, so we’re adding this to our collection.

The toddlers and preschoolers in my daycare love lacing activities .  They also love making Christmas crafts, and because we’re making a ton of Christmas crafts these days, I though it would be fun to incorporate a lacing activity into one of them.  Lacing is so good for helping young children strengthen their fine-motor skills.  Lacing is great for teaching early sewing skills too.

To make our Lacing Tree ornaments:

I started out by choosing some textured paper from our wallpaper sample book.

I chose colours and textures that were fitting for a Christmas tree craft.

I glued these samples to a piece of cardboard (the box from a frozen pizza).

Then I took a hole punch to the cards.  For some cards, I punched random holes all over the card, and for others, I just punched around the edges of the tree.

If your punch is easy to use, your child can make the holes.  My punch is way too stiff for the Hooligans to use, so I did the punching.  It’s also missing the little cap that collects the punched holes, so whenever I use it for a project like this, the floor is covered in confetti afterwards.

Note to self:  ask Santa for a new hole punch.

Then, I chose an assortment of yarn in yummy colours and textures:

Here’s a little tip:  look for yarn whenever you’re at the second hand shop.  It comes in handy for so many crafts and activities.  I rarely have to buy brand new yarn for crafting because the thrift shops always have a decent supply of it.

My Mom picked up all of this embroidery yarn at an auction sale the other night. 🙂

Once your child has chosen their yarn, they can sew their card any which way they like.

Toddlers and preschoolers probably won’t follow any particular order with their sewing, but older children can do a whip stitch or a blanket stitch around the edges.

Plastic sewing needles (that you buy in the knitting section of the craft store) are perfect for lacing activities, but if you don’t have a plastic needle, fear not!  I came up with an awesome DIY SEWING NEEDLE.

•  Cut a short length of a slim Rubbermade drinking straw to serve as your “needle”.
• Make a small slit in one end of your straw.
• Thread your yarn through the straw and secure it in the slit to hold it in place.

It works like a charm!

We secured our yarn to the back of the cardboard with a bit of tape.

Here are 3 ornaments that we made using JUST yarn.

For some fun, we broke out the sparkly gems, and added some shimmer and glimmer to the rest of the ornaments. 

Aren’t they sweet?

So there you go.  Another tree ornament to add to your collection, and a fun fine motor activity too!

Happy lacing!  And happy holidays!

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Jackie Currie

Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.